Bantam Lions knock off Braves, meet Alexandria in round two

It took three games, but Friday night (February 22) the South Dundas Bantam B Rep Lions finished off the NGS Braves with a 2-0 victory and are now preparing to meet Alexandria in Upper Canada Minor Hockey second round playoff action.

The series kicks off tonight, Wednesday, February 27 in Alexandria. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Game two of the four-point series is set for Monday, March 4 at 8 p.m. in Morrisburg, and game three, if necessary, returns to Alexandria, Thursday, March 7.

The Lions got off to a good start against the NGS Braves with a 7-3 victory on home ice last Tuesday, February 19. Then on Wednesday night, they were on the snowy road to Maxville where they were hoping to wrap up the four point series, but the Braves battled back with a 5-2 win to force a third match.

That was played Friday night in Morrisburg, with the Lions claiming the game win, 2-0, and the series win, four points to two.

Friday night, Lions goaltender Christian Francis was unbeatable as the Lions went to work on the win.

It was late in the first period that Drew Minish goal got it rolling, unassisted.

From then on, the hometown fans were on the edge of their seats as the Lions worked to hold onto their slim advantage and try to add to it.

That didn’t happen until the end of the game when Matthew Woolsey shot the puck in the empty Braves net for the 2-0 win.

Assisting on the Woolsey goal were Josh Perry and Vincent Baron-Renaud.

In the series opener in Morrisburg on February 19, the Lions were forced to come from behind as they worked their way to the 7-3 victory.

The Braves went up 2-0 in the first period on a pair of goals by Owen Bourgeois.

Early into the second period, Riley Black put the Lions on the board with help from Ben Michels and Aaron Smith.

They collected another two goals in the second period while the Braves counted one, to make it 3-3 heading into the third period.

Aaron Smith (assisted by Callahan Bilmer) and Riley Black (assisted by Quinn Bennis and Smith) counted the Lions second period goals.

Then in the third, Francis shut down the Braves shooters while the Lions went to work for four unanswered tallies and the 7-3 win.

Drew Minish led the third period charge with three goals, and Koltin Merkley counted a single.

Riley Black assisted on two of the goals and single helpers were provided by Smith, Quinn Bennis, Elese St. Louis and Michels.

The South Dundas “Pizza Hut “ Novice B Lions needed a late third period goal from Ben Lapier to defeat the visiting Kemptville Panthers here on Sunday afternoon.

With the Lion’s leading 3-2 late in the third period, the Panther’s forward Nolan Brien scored with 1:35 left to even the affair at 3-3.

On the ensuing faceoff Kayne McCadden, Nolan Henry and Lapier forced the puck deep into the Panthers end where Lapier picked up a loose puck from behind the net and jammed it in on the short side giving the Lions the lead once again with 1:18 left.

The Lion’s controlled the rest of the third period by keeping the Panther’s in their their own end to kill the clock and securing the 4-3 win.

The Lions defense of Emytt Fetterly, Cassidy Bilmer, Trent Rae and Spencer Barclay once again minimized the Panthers offensive by pushing the would be attackers to the outside and minimizing their shots.

On the few occasions the Panthers broke through the defense, goalie Brendan Shaver stood tall to defend the Lion’s cage. He looked on saves he made on two Brett Johnston break aways.

The Lions got their 3-2 lead on three Kayne McCadden goals, his second hat trick of the season. McCadden’s line mates Kolby Latulippe and Nolan Henry continued to find McCadden breaking out of their own end giving him the opportunity to exploit the Panther’s defense.

In the second period McCadden broke into the Panther’s end zone outskating the Panther’s defense to the net and fired his shot high right over the net.

The puck carried back into the Lion’s end where McCadden regained the puck and again went the distance; this time a deke right and back to the left moved the goalie out of position and McCadden slide the puck home.

Earlier, McCadden broke in on a breakaway and was tripped from behind; while the delayed penalty was being called, Nolan Henry got the puck and set up McCadden in the slot.

The Lion’s offense only scored four goals but clearly out-chanced the opposition.

From the opening faceoff, the Lion’s pressured the Panther’s defense and goaltender with many shot towards the net.

Both Joshua Broad and Owen Fetterly hit the post on chances and were denied by pucks getting tipped at the last second and going wide.

Defensemen Emytt Fetterly and Spencer Barclay helped in with the offense by getting their break out passes to their wingers’ sticks to provide the Lion’s clean breaks into the Panther’s end zone.

The South Dundas “Pizza Hut” Novice B Lions next home game is Sunday, November 20th at 1 p.m. Local hockey fans are invited come on out and cheer on the Lions.

BROCKVILLE– “I think nerves got the best of some of our young team members, but they will learn from this experience and it will only make them stronger and hungrier for next year,” said Seaway High Track and Field coach Mark Lewis, following the East Regional Track and Field Championship hosted by Thousand Islands Secondary in Brockville last, Thursday and Friday, May 28-29.

Lewis, who co-coaches the Seaway team with Lindsay Waddell, credited the young Seaway athletes and is delighted that two will be getting a taste at the tough All-Ontario meet later this week.

“Remembering that they are very young, all midgets and juniors, this is a great building block for the program and hopefully will prepare them for bigger things to come. Lindsay and I are really pleased with the results this year, and look forward to one more big week at OFSAA to see how David and Sid do.”

Qualifying for the All-Ontario championships were two Seaway athletes, David Swerdfeger in two events, midget triple jump and 300 hurdles and Sid Sideratos in midget shot put.

“David did qualify for triple jump and 300 hurdles,” said Lewis. “I think he was disappointed by the results, but he is young and it was the first time he had come up against that level of competition. It is eye opening when you have always been the best, and then there are people as good or better. It was good to happen at this meet as it will prepare him better for this week.”

To qualify in the triple jump, Swerdfeger registered an 11.73m jump for a fourth place finish. This was well down from his winning 12.05m jumped at EOSSA. It was also well back of the winning 12.39 winning jump on Friday.

His second qualification was in the 300m hurdles in which he slightly lowered his winning EOSSA time of 43.78 seconds, with a fourth place 43.44 time.

Sid Sideratos qualified in the midget boys shot put with a second place throw of 12.09m. He threw 12.61m for his second place EOSSA finish. The East Region win was collected on a 12.91m throw.

“Sid did very well, albeit certainly not his best throw,” said Lewis. “One has to bear in mind that East Region is a qualifying meet, and they both qualified which is what we were trying to do here.”

One of the biggest disappointments for the Seaway team and for the individual athlete going into the East Regional competition was the absence of Maggie Wells who had qualified in junior girls discus and shot put. Due to an injury, Wells was forced to scratch.

“Maggie was really disappointing as looking at the results, she would have easily qualified in both events. But accidents and injuries happen and there is nothing we can do about them,” said Lewis.

Jumper Kaitlyn Stewart had solid results at the Regional, but came up just short of qualifying in either of her events. Although disappointed with her 10.91m triple jump which landed her in sixth place, she was happy with her sixth place finish in long jump. Stewart registered four personal best jumps in long jump, and finished sixth with a 4.84m PB. This was a big increase from her 4.55m fifth place jump at EOSSA.

Also having a good day was Jaycie Maville, who produced a 9.79m throw for a sixth place finish in midget shot put. This was up from her 9.69m sixth place throw at EOSSA.

“Jaycie threw really well and finished great,” said Lewis. “We are very pleased with her efforts this season.”

On the track, distance runner Grant Wells, failed to qualify but ran personal bests in each of his events, the 1500m and the 3000m. Wells placed eighth in both, running the 1500m in 4:33.79 (4:36.68 at EOSSA) and the 3000m in 9:57.23 (EOSSA fourth at 10:00.39).

“Grant trained very hard and was rewarded for his hard work. He placed better than he expected, and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.”

The remaining two Seaway athletes at the Regional, Juleana Barnhartd and Cassie Hummel, had disappointing finishes to their season when they scratched in their respective events, Barnhartd in midget triple jump, and Hummel in junior javelin. Never-the-less both had a good seasons as they worked their way to the tough Regional meet.